Alumni Notes Born in Manhattan, Mildred Kuner ’48 was always
tor replaced the boyfriend, but when the new actor
interested in writing. While attending Hunter College
showed up on opening night, the director knocked
in New York, she took a creative writing class, and
him down.” Variety theatre critic Brooks Atkinson
found she had a knack for playwriting. “I had never
happened to see the play and gave it a good review,
even read plays,” she confesses, “but when I started
but unfortunately, there was no money to pay for
to read them in college, I fell madly in love with
advertising or to keep the box office open, so the
Restoration comedies.” She took a stab at writ-
play closed after a week. “On top of that, I had an
ing a comedy of her own and, after her junior year,
ineffectual William Morris agent who I couldn’t rely
Playwright & Teacher Mildred Kuner ’48
took her play to the
on to further my work,” Mildred says, “so I decided
Bread Loaf Writers
I’d send the play myself to Laurence Olivier and then
Conference in Ver-
to Charles Boyer. Both liked it, but both declined, and
mont. While there,
asked me to send something else instead. With all of
she shared her work with critic and author Walter
those discouraging events, I pretty much gave up on
Prichard Eaton (Former Faculty), who was head
playwriting,” she says. “I got tired of getting options
of the playwriting program at Yale School of Drama.
and no productions.”
He liked her play and suggested that she apply to the School. “It was unusual for a woman to be a playwright
Mildred turned down an offer to write for the soap opera As the World Turns and returned to teaching, this time at her alma mater, Hunter, where
back then,” Mildred says. “Lillian Hellman, Claire
she wrote articles on theatre, a monograph on W.
Booth Luce, and Zoë Akins — that was about it.” At
Somerset Maugham entitled Maugham and the West:
the time, playwrights at YSD had to take acting and
the Human Condition: Bondage, a critical biography
directing classes. In their first year, they adapted a short story; in their second, they wrote an original one-act play; and, in their third, a three-act play. Future Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award-winning actress Julie Harris ’47, DFAH ’07 was at YSD at the same time as Mildred. “She was so wonderful, and everyone wanted her to be in their project. At some point, Professor Eaton banned directors from casting her for one month,” Mildred says. “He was afraid that her talent and brilliance was so great that she was making the students look better than they really were.” After graduating from YSD, Mildred took a job
“I had never even read plays,” she confesses, “but when I started to read them in college, I fell madly in love with Restoration comedies.”
teaching English and Drama in a small town in South Dakota. While there, she wrote and entered a play in a contest that was organized by Stanford University.
of Thornton Wilder, and a dramatic adaptation of
Her submission won. “It was a really good experi-
Victoria Holt’s novel Mistress of Mellyn. She also
ence for me,” she says. “I was still hoping to be a
discussed theatre topics on the radio station WNYC.
playwright professionally. And I managed to be one, albeit temporarily.”
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Today, Mildred is retired, and lives in Ithaca, New York, where she remains engaged in the theatre and
After Mildred’s play won a second competition,
continues to appreciate the work of young theatre
with influential American stage director and producer
artists. Recently, she served as dramaturg to Ithaca
Margo Jones serving as one of the judges, it was
College graduates, who sought her advice. “I had a
produced around the country and eventually Off-
great time teaching,” she says. “I liked to encourage
Broadway. “My experience was lovely,” she says. “And
young playwrights, though, of course, one shouldn’t
terrible. The producer didn’t have enough money, and
over-encourage if the student doesn’t have what it
wanted her boyfriend to play the lead role. The direc-
takes.”
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